PGA Tour Stats Review: Entering the Masters

Cushing covers the PGA Tour for RotoWire, bringing a sabermetric approach to golf stats. Retired and living in the mountains of North Carolina, Cushing is in the running for the Most Interesting Man in Fantasy Sports. He's golfed the Doral Blue Monster, Harbour Town GC, Hilton Head and Augusta National, among many other tough courses. A classically trained pianist, Cushing still plays professionally. He roots for the University of Virginia because the Cavaliers may lose the game, but they ALWAYS win the party. He also made a fortune off the '72 Dolphins.

Each week we'll list the statistical breakdown of the upcoming PGA Tour event. Below are the results of recent tournaments, including last week's Texas Open, and a look ahead to this week's event, the Masters.

The Masters started play at Augusta National Golf Club (par-72) in 1934. It remains the only major played on the same course annually except when play was cancelled in World War II (1943-45).

The tournament is an invitational, differing from Open or Championship, directed by the members of the Augusta National Golf Club.

In recent years Club members have been active in supporting golf in Asia. They have invited players from the Asian Tour, Japanese Tour and recognized amateur tournaments. This year, Chinese amateur Tianlang Guan (Langly for short), winner at the 2012 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship, was invited. Langly will be 14-years, five-months, 17-days old on April 11, becoming the youngest golfer to play in the Masters, bumping then-amateur Matteo Manassero, who played at age 16. Langly uses a long putter and said he expects to make the cut.

The Masters, which once was dubbed The East Georgia Putting Match, is well known for undulating very fast greens. Certain positions can be a guaranteed 3-putt - other positions are rewarding. In certain situations, par is a good score. Bogey avoidance is a virtue here - birdies are tough to find.

Once known as a second-shot course, Augusta is now a first- and second-shot course - driving distance and favoring placement for second shots are more important now. In past years, rough has been very light.

Winners have found it difficult to defend the following year: Jack Nicklaus won in 1966 after winning in 1965, Nick Faldo 1990 after 1989, Tiger Woods 2002 after 2001.

Course record: 63 (Nick Price, 1986; Greg Norman, 1996)

Tournament record: 270 (18-under, Tiger Woods, 1997)

Below are the top-6 finishers from the last Masters. Six players are 10 percent of those making the 60-player cut.

YEAR

WINNER

DRIVE

DRIVE

GIR

PUTTS

PUTTS

EAGLE/

BOGEY/

%of56

RNK

DIS

RNK

%of72

RNK

PER GIR

PER RND

RNK

BIRDIE

DBL

2012

Watson P1 -10

66.1

NA

290.4

NA

73.6

NA

1.67

NA

NA

0/19

8/0

Oosthzen P2 -10

82.1

NA

290.5

NA

70.8

NA

1.53

NA

NA

3/18

9/1

Hanson -10

78.6

NA

281.4

NA

68.1

NA

1.53

NA

NA

0/20

8/2

Kuchar -8

85.7

NA

280.6

NA

80.6

NA

1.71

NA

NA

1/14

2/1

Mickelson -8

60.7

NA

282.3

NA

62.5

NA

1.49

NA

NA

1/18

6/0

Westwood -8

75.0

NA

287.4

NA

80.6

NA

1.78

NA

NA

0/20

10/1

2011

Schwartzel -14

66.6

31

278.4

44

68.0

18

NA

107

2

2/17

7/0

J. Day -12

69.6

20

287.3

18

72.2

6

NA

114

11

0/23

9/1

Scott -12

62.5

36

287.1

19

70.8

11

NA

111

3

2/17

7/1

Woods -10

66.0

31

287.8

15

73.6

5

NA

120

32

1/19

11/0

Ogilvy -10

75.0

7

289.0

13

69.4

16

NA

111

3

0/20

8/1

Donald -10

67.8

26

280.3

39

56.9

41

NA

102

1

1/21

11/1

2010

Mickelson -16

60.7

44

297.1

2

75.0

3

NA

116

13

3/16

6/0

Westwood -13

62.5

43

292.3

6

80.5

1

NA

121

31

1/22

9/1

A. Kim -12

58.9

46

277.3

39

70.8

9

NA

114

5

2/18

10/0

Woods -11

66.1

37

283.0

20

68.1

16

NA

113

3

4/17

14/0

Choi -11

73.2

24

275.6

43

75.0

3

NA

114

5

0/18

7/0

Couples -9

80.4

10

287.3

11

69.4

12

NA

113

3

1/19

10/1

AVERAGE

69.9

29.6

285.3

22.4

71.4

11.8

1.6

113.0

9.3

1.2/18.6

8.4/0.9

Stats not entered were not provided.

Oosthuizen had a double eagle at No. 2

All of the above are in this year's field except Geoff Ogily and Anthony Kim.